Tennessee Ernie Ford
Sixteen Tons
Songwriter: TRAVIS, MERLE
Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man’s made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that’s a-weak and a back that’s strong
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said “Well, a-bless my soul”
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin’, it was drizzlin’ rain
Fightin’ and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion
Cain’t no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
If you see me comin’, better step aside
A lotta men didn’t, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don’t a-get you
Then the left one will
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I heard someone say the sewer's a clogged up with mud
We found out soon it was a different crud
A different crud; we looked and started to groan
Our knees went a-weak and we all said "that's wrong"
It was fifteen tons, real smelly and wet
Each day it was larger; we were deeper in s**t
London dweller stay the lever ‘cause you can’t go
Down on my head I don't want turds to flow
I went down one mornin’ where the sun didn’t shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked through the slime
I loaded fifteen tons of grease lard n' oil
It smelled so bad I almost tossed my meal
It was fifteen tons, real smelly and wet
Each day it was larger; we were deeper in s**t
London dweller stay the lever ‘cause you can’t go
Down on my head I don't want turds to flow
Flush water was a pourin' it was drizzlin’ rain
effluent and trouble are my middle names
I was raised when Ed Norton was on channel nine
I grew up thinkin' that his job was fine
It was fifteen tons, real smelly and wet
Each day it was larger; we were deeper in s**t
London dweller stay the lever ‘cause you can’t go
Down on my head I don't want turds to flow
If you see this stuff a comin’ better step inside
A lotta men didn’t, and a lotta men cried
when the wave does hit ya you will reel
If the sight don’t a-get you
Then the smell sure will
It was fifteen tons, real smelly and wet
Each day it was larger; we were deeper in s**t
London dweller stay the lever ‘cause you can’t go
Down on my head I don't want turds to flow